With U. S. Troops Still in the Mideast, Private Firms Must Guard Military Bases at Home
The Daily Misleader

October 22, 2003

One of George Bush Jr.’s campaign promises was to “rebuild the military power of the United States,”1 which Dick Cheney, his vice-presidential candidate, claimed had lapsed because of “multiplying missions and unclear goals.”2 However, Bush’s multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have overtaxed the military even more and now have led to hiring more civilian contractors for such basic duties as guarding U.S. military bases.
Private security firms have taken over what traditionally was a sole province of the military.3 In a typical contract, Akal Security has been awarded $70 million to guard eight stateside Army bases.4

In Iraq, almost a third of the $4 billion monthly costs are going to private contractors. One foreign policy expert estimates the current Bush Administration has five times as many civilian contractors in Iraq as his father’s administration did during the first Gulf War in 1991.5

The privatization practice, first explored when Cheney was Secretary of Defense for the senior Bush, led to an $8.9 million logistics contract for Brown and Root, a company Cheney later oversaw as head of Halliburton after he left government. Of approximately 3,000 civilian contracts awarded by the Pentagon since 1994, about 2,700 have gone to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root and one other firm.6

Sources:
“Bush Won’t Rest on Defense: GOP Candidate Says ‘Help Is On The Way’ For Military,” ABCNews.com, 8/21/00
“Military Offensive: Cheney Steps Up Attacks on Gore Defense Record,” ABCNews.com, 8/30/00
“Soldiers of Good Fortune,” Mother Jones, May/June 2003
“Akal Wins Army Contracts,” Albuquerque Business Journal, 10/13/03
“Dogs of Peace,” Newsweek Interactive, 8/25-9/1/03
“Making a Killing: The Business of War,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

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